Conventional treatments to alleviate the symptoms of uterine fibroids include drug therapies which are generally effective only in less advanced cases, myomectomies to remove individual larger fibroids and, for more advanced cases, hysterectomies. Less invasive alternative procedures are often preferable as they typically reduce side effects and involve fewer side effects and shorter hospital stays.
These less invasive procedures include the shrinkage of fibroids using probes that delivery electrical energy, heat or cryogenic cooling to the tissue and procedures involving occlusion of the blood supply to the fibroids. Some of these vascular occlusion procedures including, for example, embolization and mechanical constriction of blood vessels, are complex and may require multiple incisions to reach the target tissue and/or to place devices accurately in desired positions relative to target anatomical structures.